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Month: June 2018

Had about enough with #MAGA again again today. That means I spent a few hours reading the newz of my beloved & missed #Americant. I’m not sure if my interest in newz has peaked on account of #Trump or if I’m just having one of those feel-sorry for myself evenings on account I can’t find a way to get back home. Indeed. So much is the humour and taxation of being worst-writer, the unwilling expatriate. But before I get too far off subject.

Even though I own the DVD, I haven’t actually watched it. 1984 (the film), that is. I mean. Wait. I’ve seen the movie. I think I’ve seen twice. Yes. Definitely twice. There might have been a third viewing here or there but I also recall that one would have included banging some bimbo so I probably didn’t watch it to the end. But once again, I’m off subject.

Here’s the thing, dear worst-reader. I got through about five minutes of the beginning of the movie. The beginning of the film with all those automatons as the audience of a propaganda rally was just too much for me. I short circuited. Indeed. #Trump and what has happened to my beloved #Americant has got me riled. Or have you not seen video of his rallies? But that doesn’t matter either. The thing to remember in this worst-post is that I simply can’t take it anymore. The whole dystopia thing that is obviously taking over my mind’s eyes.

There is a reason in my beloved & missed #Americant there are so many shows on brain-dead TV that make fun of conservatives. You know, The Daily Show, Samantha Bee, pretty much everything on Comedy Central and, of course, Stephen Colbert. The most obvious thing to keep in mind, though, is that conservatives, especially compared to liberals, are just easy to make fun of. Does that mean that Hillary isn’t easy to laugh at? Maybe. Conservatives–and I mean all conservatives–simply have a price to pay for their greed-mongering, for their bigotry, the hypocrisy. They deserve in the least to be made fun of–especially since they’ve won at everything else for the past thirty yrs. Seriously. The best joke a conservative mind can come up with is: three Hillarys walk into a bar where there’s an email server, Benghazi and a blue dress stained with the same sticky stuff that keeps #Trumps hair….

But I digress.

Beyond the funny stuff, the political $hit liberals do–at least in the past thirty or so years–hasn’t been about propping up rich people (although I’ll agree that certain aspects of that is arguable, especially considering Blue-Dogs and neo-liberals), wars-of-choice or religious nuttery that goes beyond the extreme bat$hit humanity tried to purge itself of with things like, gee, I don’t know… The fcuking enlightenment. Anywho.

I’ve been worst-thinking lately about what makes a conservative and how you can tell someone is, in their heart of hearts, conservative. The problem I’m having reaching any conclusion though is that I’m not smart enough to figure it all out. You know, empirical study; analysing/figuring $hit out like a professor would, etc. I’m sure a philosopher somewhere has touched upon the issue. I’m obviously far from discovering that piece of work, though. So I’m just gonna go with my prejudices here in reaching my own worst-conclusion. That’s right, I’m prejudice against conservatives and conservatism. One of the main reasons for that is how it’s all become so obvious that conservatism (of late) has embraced certain aspects of political extremism that, at best, borders on fascism. Beyond all the other uglies they espouse, a really bad part of being a fascist or a conservative is that these people simply are not funny. Nor do they know how to take a joke.

So let me cut to the chase. The pics above are examples of how you can tell if someone is a conservative–even if they say they aren’t. Just look at the pictures. If they/you laugh or giggle at the pics they/you are a conservative (in your heart of hearts). This little experiment also includes, buy-the-by, libertarians and Blue-Dog Democrats, i.e. neo-liberals. FYI. Libertarians, IMHO, are nothing more than republicans without any balls. Blue-Dogs and neo-liberals are cocksucking corporatists that haven’t yet seen the light about what it is they do–i.e. pawn of the piper–in order to make a living (on the backs of others). And so.

You are a conservative if you find the pics above in any way humorous. The reason for that is easy: the pictures depict something that is not only true but not twisted enough to be comical. For example, #Trump treats #Americants like children doing yard work (and #Americants obviously like it that way). The reality of the pic, though, which the motif subverts, is too deep for a conservative mind to actually grasp. And so… A conservative will giggle at #Trump bullying a little boy and his lawnmower. Whereas someone with a mind, with intellect, will see the picture for what it is: the truth.

Women, so many of whom enabled #Trump irregardless of his locker-room banter, drink the tears of liberals while sunbathing in their own grab them by the pu$$y swimwear. Which is fine as long as some other woman’s pu$$y is being grabbed. And while I’m on the subject, why isn’t there a pu$$yhat protest everyday in #Americant? Why aren’t stars from hollywood, especially the hot ones, boycotting the moneyed interests of movie makers who are benefitting from the mindless tax cuts for the rich that President Stupid dished out and that only adds to what has to be paid for by others in the future?

Only an a$$hole can in anyway believe that #Trump was some kind of protest against the establishment. If #Trump has proved anything about who and what he really is, he is a great–if not the greatest–conman the united mistakes of #Americant has ever seen. There is a whole country of a$$holes that have fallen for his con.

And then there’s the grand painting of #Trump and (his) stubby. Although the portrait is humorous in its clarity and uniqueness, it is so real that one can only scream in absolute horror–unless you’re a conservative–which means you’ll either shun it or giggle at it. And so. Here is President Stupid of the greatest land ever of Free To Be Stupid in all his/its glory.

Good luck suckers.

-Rant on

-T

PS Another way to know if you’re conservative is if words like millennial, LGBTQ, borders, immigrants, PC or political correctness, liberal this or liberal that, etc., etc., appear in the news you’re consuming. And although I think those words are important, be careful who is writing/saying them. It’s usually someone full of lots of uglies on account them words ain’t the issue(s).

Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8402204; FYI I did edit the pic a bit removing the disgusting swastika and nazi stuff. You’re welcome.

Well, dear worst-reader. I got five years. It’s been a long time since my expat host country offered me five. For the past ten or twelve years (about half my total stay so far), it’s always been a two year visa. “Two years and let’s see how things go,” some automaton sitting behind an ugly office government desk would say. Indeed. Of course there was a time when I was offered a ten year visa. And then there was the time I was offered citizenship. But I laughed when they offered citizenship. Reason? Because of the unrein (impure) nature of my existence, i.e. born of a half-breed American male serving in the US Navy and a German fräulein, I don’t have the right Blood and Soil (Blut und Boden) combination and therefore am punished (for something I never had control over) by not being allowed to have duel citizenship. Hence I can have citizenship but only if I give up my American citizenship. “Is you stupid,” I said to the automaton working behind the ugly government desk that made the ridiculous offer. “Why the fcuk-you would I want to give up citizenship from the greatest country in the world to have citizenship from some two-bit #Eurowasteland country that is still stuck in the 18th century–even though you guys make great cars?”

Fcuk you, Germany!

Anywho. As far as the ten year visa offer went, they saw that my home country passport was expiring and told me that I’d have to get a new visa anyway if/when my passport expired within their ten year visa period. So whenever they ask I usually just say: make it for two years you cock $ucking mutterficker–and while you’re at it don’t forget how I assimilated in this $hithole country long before #Trump & Co called out all $hithole countries. You’re fcuking welcome, biatch. And then I added a final remark about how they don’t deserve me anyway. If the automaton had a bit of pre-school English then we both giggled and continued looking away from each other. If he (or she) understood me fully, then he (or she) closed up, we remained silent for the rest of the process until he (or she) dished out… my fcuking papers.

But hey! Have no fear, dear worst-reader. The other morning, the stars were aligned. The moon is in the eye of Jupiter and my passport has another ten years till expiration. And so. I have been granted a five year visa.

Fcuk you, Germany!

Pause. Breath.

“Would you like a permanent residence visa,” I was asked.

“Why,” I retorted.

“No. That won’t work either,” the automaton said, correcting himself. Then he added after looking in my passport and pointing it out to me, “But I see you’re passport expires in 2025. There is no time for ten year visa. Basta, ja.”

“Dude, just make it two years. I really don’t give a flying rats-a$$ fcuk.”

“Yes. Ok, then. We’ll make it five,” he said. And we didn’t giggle.

Whoppp-dee-fcuking-do!

And so was my Monday morning this week. I had pranced up to the hideous bureaucrat facilities behind the train station and waddled my way through a crowd of refugees galore. Although I thought I had prepared myself with all the required paperwork–which amounts to nothing more than proving I have the financial means to not be dependent on The State–along with my US passport, of course, I did forget one thing. A new biometric photo.

Say, Germany, do I look like a give a fcuk?

So I trekked across the campus behind the D’dorf train station to a pastry shop nearby where I bought a cup of black coffee. I only did this because no one would/could provide me the proper change for a 50,-€ bill. Usually I never carry bills under €100. The biometric photo machine only takes exact change, or 7,-€, and the nearby change-machine doesn’t take bills higher than 20,-€. The line to use one of the two photo machines was long but it looked like it was moving.

Yeah. Bureaucracy and the poor, baby.

Once I got the proper change–and the coffee–I headed back to the refugee facility to see what bureaucracy awaited me next. Of course, I realised I don’t drink cheap coffee so when I passed a security guard in a bright yellow jacket–of which there were many–I asked him if he’d like a cup of coffee and handed him the fresh cup. I told him it was untouched and I only got it to get change. He spoke a broken form of Bulgarian German (or something like that) and thanked me, accepting the coffee as though someone was doing something nice for him. I assure you, dear worst-reader, that someone wasn’t/isn’t me.

Yellow mark-down is what I mis-read. Actually, the truth is, I never read this shit in this first place. Still, it does say I have to provide a current photo–which I eventually did after buying a security guard protecting Germans from a horde of refugees in the direct vicinity.

Since I usually don’t pay much attention to German bureaucracy, I missed the part in the instructions I was sent that required me to bring a new photo. Hell, check out that list of krapp they want me to bring along. Look at all that stuff! Are the refugees Germany is taking in from #Americant middle-eastern war zones required to bring that much stuff, too? Oh wait. I wonder where all those people struggling on boats in the middle of the Mediterranean are able to get a “Schulbescheinigung” (proof of education) or “Mietvertrag” (rental contract). Oh wait (again). Most of the stuff I’m required to show has to do with money–not with wars of choice that Germany and, of course, #Eurowasteland has profited from over the past twenty (or so) years.

Ok. Based on that last worst-remark about Germany profiting from mid-east wars, let me say this: I stand by it. In fact, the whole of #Eurowasteland has had numerous chances to stand up for the weak and oppressed of this world–that’s right, even by calling-out the US for it’s wars of choice–but it has done NOTHING accept promote a world of consuming to survive hidden behind the hideous filter of its past. The Continent is once again preoccupied with the greed $hitshow of nativism, tribalism and its reawakening of old-time aristocracies reminiscent of pre-WWI. That’s why I have no issue–like so many Germans do–with all the refugees being taken in. In a way, I’m one of them. And please don’t mistake that last sentence for me equating my situation whole heartily with theirs. And so goes the $hitshow of first, second and third world refugees all coming together in a country of automatons and corporatists that, in the event it’s required, couldn’t find their way out of a wet paper bag.

On the other hand, taking in millions of refugees is the only thing Euro greed-mongers can do in answer to #Americant’s wars-of-choice. This is of course how Europe supports those wars! And no matter how you view it, it is a sad state of affairs, especially in Germany right now. I really feel awful for all those naive refugees that the pseudo-rich Germans are taking in. The facility that processed me as a foreigner the other day was packed to the hilt with people who are clueless to what awaits them–and their children. And let me tell you, it ain’t pretty. Even though they have made it out of extreme poverty, war-zones-galore or the humiliation of dictators, by coming to Europe they will be regulated to a state of 2nd or 3rd class citizenry that they will NEVER be able to overcome. The Germans, and other Europeans, will never accept the influx of these people who, sad to say, look quite different than the average (especially northern) European. For if I’ve learned anything after twenty-plus years of living in a part of the world where collective greed was invented, it’s this: Blut und Boden is all that’s left. Unless, of course, you can get a bank to finance a fancy car or afford regular trips to Mallorca for a get-away. Yeah, that’s what refugees are after. (Sarcasm off.)

As usual, I’m off subject. This was supposed to be a post about worst-writer, aka Tom Stough, acquiring permission to live legally five more years in the old country–that he can’t get out of. And although I should be happy about it (I guess), I am instead furious. And the only thing that comes to my worst-mind right now is… Blut und Boden and how Germans, French, and yes, even the British, are obsessed with it. Btw, anyone out there in worst-writer land remember Blut und Boden? It was used vividly (in English) during the Charlottsville, VA, antics where #Americants tried to promote their greed mongering ignorance only, in the end, to slip and slide down that fun-game of racism #Trump & Co. have made dinner table talk once again. Welcome back to 1968, my beloved #Americant.

I wish all those refugees that I was in the middle of the other day a better life than what they left to get to $hithole Germany. Heck, I even wish them better and more luck than I had. They’re gonna need it.

-Rant on

-T

PS The second part of the title of this worst-post kinda reflects that only thing the Germans really have to offer. But I digress.

There was a moment while listening to Bill Clinton bat an eye when the interviewer asked (out of the blue) about his grand past where I didn’t know whether to LMAO or LOL. But then, suddenly, Clinton’s whiteness was taking a turn for the worst: bright red was beginning to shine through that pickled and scarred bulbous nose.

Wait! When did he get a nose job, I asked my worst-self.

That’s when you know something is up, eh, dear worst-reader. I don’t know about you, but I’ve seen that Clinton red nose before. Anyone who lived through this man making blowjobs dinner table talk in my beloved & missed #Americant should know it, too. In fact, I’d fare to say it’s almost like a new fangled disease and Bill Clinton is the originator.

The angry red nose of über white people disease.

But before I get too far off subject.

What is the cause of Bill Clinton’s nose turning red during a simple interview where he’s actually trying to sell a book he co-wrote with a famous novelist? This nose-phenomenon is not totally unknown to many out there in the world. Reason? The cause of it is either severe embarrassment or less severe anger that begins and ends with… how blood is circulated through the male body. For some, the red nose of über white people disease is an everyday event. Your arteries begin to harden and the pressure in your veins increases. Who can tell what really goes on in the breathing carcass of #Americant males but I can only worst-guess it is akin to other human endeavours, albeit with less socially negative results. With that in mind, let’s get on with the sex, shall we?

Would I be amiss if I didn’t mention sex in a worst-post that tries to deal Bill Clinton? I mean, cum on her already. And while there, I’ve admitted that he’s probably the greatest politician of our time. And ain’t that how this whole thing got started? I mean, other than…

blue dress yes, swallow no

Imagine with me, dear worst-reader, how the whole ordeal came to be. For example, I’m now wondering if, not forgetting the cigar, she invited him in the hallway between the White House offices or if he told her:

Wait. I can’t cum in here, he said.

And I can’t swallow, she said.

In the hallway, then, he commanded and chiefed. And then he added with his zipper down, I can cum on you in the hallway if you don’t swallow.

Indeed. That’s how it came be. I mean, how was it back in the day when we (I) could make things work–down there–at the push of a popped blouse button or the sight of a blue dress. In fact, that last time I took the blue pill I immediately felt the constriction taking place in my non-Cuban little friend. It is indeed a constriction not unlike anger–or, perhaps, embarrassment–and it boils through your body seeking release. This, by-the-buy, is the difference between male and female, don’t you know. Is that, btw, what saves her (in the end)? Is that what keeps humanity’s head–as in give it–all about #metoo swallow or #metoo not swallow? Just blow your goo on my dress?

Ok. Enough worst-sex.

I’m pissed that Bill Clinton is back in the news and this is the only thing that can be talked about. I’m also pissed because he’s back in the news for having co-wrote a novel–which is code for somebody else writing it and he’s putting his name on it and he’ll probably get most of the proceeds from it, etc. Will I read the novel? Of course not. Will I read a review about it? Seems kind of inevitable.

Spoiler alert: It seems to suck, btw.

And yet this ageing and dilapidated white man with ugly bulbous orifice protruding red nose, the single white man that ushered in the era of GOP batt$hittery, is all over the news and he’s not there to be a politician.

Go the fcuk away Clintons!

Bill Clinton lost his $hit the other day when a reporter, IMHO, asked the wrong question about an issue that has nothing to do with the current issue that motivated the question: i.e. the #metoo movement. Obviously, in a world of so-called fake news–it wouldn’t be fake if it weren’t for the likes of Bill Clinton. But this reminded me of everything that is not only bad but also rotten in my beloved #Americant. And it’s all starting to get on my nerves. I mean, how much longer are we gonna have to live what Bill Clinton and his corporate, neoliberal ways that have ushered in #Trump & Co.? Is Clinton and his Frankenstein Monster (the GOP) gonna be around forever battling each other with pitchforks, shovels and tiki torches that spew cum all over us? I mean, since he started the whole thing wouldn’t it also be appropriate if it ended with him? This will not change because of a belated apology to #Americants and their blue-dress queen. Or will it?

Within a few moments after the compelling worst-question, the first thing I thought about was why/how the reporter could attach what Bill Clinton did with/to Monica Lewinsky with the (über) current #metoo movement that’s moved the world because of another president, specifically President Stupid (#Trump), and his entry into the political BJ realm that is GOP (post Reagan) afterbirth.

Wait, I thought. Is there a connection between the consensual activities of Lewinsky/Clinton and the non-consensual activities of Harvey Weinstein & Co.?

After a brief discussion with my better half and a few hours of contemplative worst-thought, I eventually reached an inner consensus–I think. This whole issue is not confusing because I cannot decided whether one abuser is better (or worse) than another abuser. Instead, this is about how to do deal with abusers of power? And so. The question asked of Bill Clinton that initially appealed to male sympathies tucked not too deep underneath my worst-psyche, is a legitimate question. In the end, it’s not about whether Bubbha (Bill) Clinton apologised for consensual misbehaviour with Ms. Lewinsky. Instead it is about whether or not a man of power abused that power. In Clinton’s case it was clear abuse. And then my wife ended the whole issue in my worst-mind with this: He should have just said no.

Believing in the power of knowledge has been a worst-mantra of mine for years. That’s probably why it’s so difficult for me to deal with the anti-intellectualism that has overcome my beloved & missed #Americant. I mean, what else could get a man like #Trump so far in this life? Or do you actually believe that intellect has something to do with all this idiocracy and reality-tv nation mis-state-hood? Wait. Did I just kill my own worst-question there? But on that note, I digress. For today’s worst-post deals with my most recent read. That’s right, dear worst-reader. I read this book last night and early this morning and enjoyed it thoroughly. Perhaps you can too–if you can still get it. (Btw, most recent search in online book store from hell shows it to be out of print but available as a used book.) Oh. And before I forget, pay special attention to the captions of two of the pics included above.

Rant on.

-T

PS And no! I’m not the one selling the book used on online books store from hell.

I tried to become a watch-nut once. Not a real watch-nut, mind you. Of course not. A real watch-nut spends lots of money on watches. Heck, I don’t even like money. Anywho. A watch-nut knows what a complication is. In fact, that’s the only thing that made watches interesting to me. The simpler the complications, the better the watch. That’s why for years I wore a cheap, mechanical watch that within a twenty-four hour period lost at least two minutes of time. But it was a cool watch. Every morning I had to get up and wind it. Which brings me to the worst-subject of the day. As in super expensive and it works or something quite a bit cheaper and maybe, well, it loses two minutes of time a day. You in, dear worst-reader?

As you can see in the confused pics above, I consumed Apple’s #WWDC2018 the other day. Already dislocated from expectations, I was, as usual, disappointed in the show. Long worst-writer, pseudo-technologist, story short: #Apple sucks. The only consolation, as an Apple user, is that Apple will remain the best of the worst for the foreseeable future. That said, I’m not ready to fully go elsewhere for my personal computing needs. Or maybe I am. I’m especially not ready to go iOS. That’s for sure. And that’s what I got out of this year’s WWDC. In other words, if you’re an old-school Mac user like me, it’s probably time to move on or at least get ready to move over rover. That means, iOS is definitely gonna take over fairly soon. And even though the guy with the funny hair and plastic look (pic above of the iPad) claimed that there will be no merge of iOS and MacOS, I don’t believe him. Well, I kinda believe him. I mean, look at him. Compare him to the slimy, filthy ashtray that I refuse to clean behind him. The duschbags running Apple these days are definitely earning their weight in bull$hit. And that’s coming from a guy who has nothing but Apple products in his digital life. Aghast!

In order to prepare myself for the future I’ve been experimenting with what I consider the only true innovation in personal computing hardware in the past twenty years. And when I say personal computing I mean old school stuff as in a keyboard, a monitor and where necessary a mouse. And it doesn’t stop there. I’m also old school because I believe that when I buy a computer, what I do with it after purchase is all up to me. With that in mind, the thing I hate most about iOS and the direction computers are going is the touch screen interface and the fact that that it has exponentially increased the distance between human and the computer and device. Wow. I bet that’s worth a worst-thought or three, eh? Anywho.

Now don’t get me wrong, dear worst-reader. I’m not afraid of change. It’s just that I really do hate tablets. Nomatter how bright, clear and shinny they make those screens, for me there is something awfully wrong with my finger tips hitting a piece of hardened glass in order to interact with the/my digital world. Add to that the closed eco-system these new devices have ushered in to personal computing… at the behest of greed mongering corporations…

The thing to remember to keep in mind while reading this worst-post, dear worst-reader, is that nomatter what Apple does, worst-writer ain’t going to move to tablet computing anytime soon. In fact, so far, it looks like they’re gonna have to pry my dreams of old-school personal computing way of life out of my cold, dead, nightmare hands.

And so…

IMHO the most innovative personal computing product in years is the Raspberry Pi. Since its introduction as a code learning device for young people it has become a viable and versatile computer that has no rivals other than other single board computers, although it’s not quite ready to replace desktop computers. (But it is almost there.) And get this! It costs just under less than 40,-€. Depending upon use and purpose, total cost of this device is around 100,-€, and that includes audio-boards, power supply and micro-sd cards. Considering what I’ve paid over the years for inevitably obsolete Apple products, that’s pretty impressive. FYI, I currently have three Raspberry Pi’s in full-time use in my house. And there’s this thought: I’m using R-Pis more than any of my Apple digital devices combined, except, maybe, my MacBook. In other worst-words, I’ve replaced what could have been Apple purchases–if Apple weren’t run by duschbags!–with some serious household cost-cutting purchases.

Enough worst-writer anger, though, eh.

One Pi is a Plex media client that has replaced one of my AppleTVs. It’s only a matter of time before another Pi replaces the other AppleTV. My second Pi is an audio streaming device using Volumio and a Hifiberry audio-board. It has 1) replaced iTunes for streaming music in our living room and kitchen and 2) will prevent us from having to buy any of those stupid little speaker thingies everybody and joe is pushing onto the music listening market. Sorry. Let me just put this out there:

That’s right. Finally. I can play my FLAC formatted music collection in its purest form–and with real air-moving speakers. Amen, brother.

The third Piis the latest device available, the 3B+, and because it has increased ethernet capacity–although still via a bottlenecking USB 2.0 bus–I’ve been testing it as a NAS (network attached storage). Other than a few twerks and quirks here and there, these Pi’s work great and are slowly but surely proving themselves as alternatives to my ageing Apple home infrastructure and, more importantly, my unwillingness to accept Apple’s monopolisation of everything.

On that note, a few words about NAS on the cheap.

As you can see in the large pic above, I’m using a 2010 MacPro as a headless server. In fact, I’ve been using it for almost ten years. It’s where all of my household data is stored and backed-up. Of course, I know it’s time is limited, especially considering what Apple is doing with MacOS. It’s currently running El Capitan and I’m not even gonna bother with Sierra or High Sierra for it or any other OS. What I’d really like to do with it is stop wasting it as a over-energy-consumptive server and re-install Snow Leopard on it and just use it as a awesome desktop computer. Any by-the-buy, the newest MacOS just released, Mojave, won’t run on it at all. Indeed. More obsoletism. And for those interested, I don’t favour going the commercial NAS route i.e. Synology & Co. on account they are just an added complication in something that should be simple, where do I go in the future with my home digital needs they all seem like over priced and over complicated un-neccessities.

The fact that I have to even ask such a question is proof enough that there’s something seriously wrong with the world–or at least Apple’s and its, what I consider, corporate dysfunction. And perhaps this relates to my silly little watch analogy at the beginning of this post because when I heard that the latest Raspberry Pi had increased ethernet speed, albeit not quite gigabyte, I thought it finally time to take the plunge. Indeed. NAS here I cometh–even if you’re off two minutes each day!

Conclusion after about a month of Raspberry Pi NAS testing?

It works but…

Using OpenMediaVault, a 32GB micro-sd card, and a dedicated 5v-3amp micro-USB power supply, and, of course, numerous available HDDs I’ve got lying around–including really, really old USB 2.0 cases–my new cheap NAS is a go-go works great so far. Currently occupying two USB (out of 4) ports I have an old 750GB HDD in a single case that is dedicated to audio. Another dual HDD case that has hardware enabled RAID-0 case and 2x3TB drives in it, gives me a total of 6TB as an experimental backup server. I’m using testing the big drive for shares where I’ll be copying most of what’s on the MacPro to it as an alternative to the MacPro. Btw, the MacPro is a great server but it is obviously wasted in this role. Also, I’m not able to connect any of the Raspberry Pi’s to it unless via a Plex server. Something about Linux file systems and Mac files system not getting along, don’t you know. Anywho.

Hiccups so far mostly occur when I stream music and perform large data transfers. The Pi just doesn’t have enough ethernet/USB to make it all happen. For example. Copying my movie collection, which is about 1.5TB of data, from my MacPro to the big NAS share, the Pi then cannot deliver audio files at the same time. This screws up Volumio quite a bit and has required more than a few restarts and a few frustrating evenings where I was attempting to enjoy music. I’m assuming that these hiccups will decrease once I get all my music, movie and photos copied to the NAS, which is about 4TB total and will take a few days at current i/o bus speeds. And to think I’ve still got two more USB ports on the Pi for more drives… Cool.

Update two days later: All big files have been copied and I’ve had no hiccups with Volumio anymore. Über cool!

In worst-conclusion: So far I’m pleased with the time and effort required to get these Pi’s doing what I want working. And that’s the ticket, along with the price, if anyone wants to free themselves from monopolisation and corporate dysfunction galore. Of course there is a learning curve here. And even though there are forums out there and what feels like a large user base, the Raspberry Pi is not at all like any of the devices that I’m replacing. Obviously AppleTVs worked from the point-of-purchase until Apple makes them obsolete. So I’ve had to do a bit of research, reading and fiddling to get these Raspberry Pi’s to work. Then again, listening to Beethoven through real speakers in FLAC at 24bit streamed from a tiny server in my basement to a device that is hidden, tucked behind books on book shelf in my living room… Fcuk yeah! There is some wow going on in my audio listening pleasure zone, baby. And so. Good ridden monopoly Apple. Hope you choke on your duschbaggery and greed.

Rant on.

-T

PS As far as the two other pictures included in this post, you’re guess is a good as mine. The one with the runners is kinda cool and reminds somehow of Apple’s dysfunction. Yeah, that kid running along the group looks like he’s trying to keep up with his daddy or stop his daddy from running away from his mommy, which is most likely, considering #eurowasteland greed mongering, inevitable. The picture of the smoke stack is Apple, too. Yeah, it’s gotten that big and fat and in the way of seeing a horizon.

I use to think the saddest part about being poor was the food. That must sound strange considering how much of the planet is desperate for food. Yet considering what some of the richest countries collectively ingest, perhaps it’s not too far fetched to make a comparison between what we eat and what eats us. Or?

fast-food + opiates = #Americant

Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy a greasy burger every once-a-once. But the idear of having to live off that $hit because a burger can cost so little? No thanks. Of course, long past my departure into expatriate-ville, I think I’ve gotten over fast-food–even though there is an unanswered lust every once-a-once. Indeed. Ingesting krapp is my heritage. And boy am I glad I never got into the drugs.

My beloved & missed #Americant is obsessed with ingesting krapp. In fact, it seems to have no end. And it most certainly doesn’t stop with fried burgers and oil soaked potatoes mash. Indeed. The national ingestion obsession is booming. Which brings me to legalised recreational designer drug abuse, baby. Now ain’t that a thang? But is it worse than fast-food? Or can the two be combined? Then again, with the onslaught of current lawsuits pending against greed mongering pharma companies–that looks a lot like the lawsuits against big tobacco–maybe fast-food will come out of this rejuvenated. No. Wait. I’m way off topic.

This is supposed to be a post about recent articles I’ve read concerning #Americant’s ingestion problems. Specifically addiction to serious hardcore drugs that are legally prescribed by doctors. Yet these drugs are no different than the illicit drugs of yesteryore. And that’s the ticket, ain’t it? It’s easy to answer the question of where these drugs come from. It all started illicitly via Asia, South America and, perhaps, in some places Ozzy & Harriet’s back yard. But then a few cocksucking greed mongers got wind of modernity and thought: why do drug lords in shady places get to make all the money off of the land of free to be stupid? Why can’t I make some money off it, too?

What was once illicit is long since legal. And big pharma boys have made a $hit kicking killing off it all. Which means the #Americant Way has won again. So get out there and put on that shinny cape and fly through the sky of your drug induced dreams. And every so often have a stop at some place with golden arches and share a burger with a compatriot. And then sell him some of your surplus opiates. Yeah, baby. Let’s get high while killing the pain of being #Americant.